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We don't eat out much these days. Restaurant meals are a rip off and the price of wine is just silly. There seems to be a trend now for discarding the humble plate for serving the food. Of the last tw

Straight after chemo on Thursday I went down to the Park Hotel (ex Savoy) where I met Mrs C and Pat and John McKenzie. Pat (nee Bond), a Sherwood girl, was Linda's friend and at school with her, and e

Shurrup moaning you lot, it's nice to go out to a good restaurant occasionally.  

Talking of people doing a runner rather than paying...

 

My daughter was coming to the end of her 12-hour shift at one of the more “upmarket” restaurants in town last night when a table of four left without paying their bill of about £180. She was told that it was policy that as she was looking after their table, she’d have to cover their £60 drinks bill out of her earnings. 

 

Luckily for her, they came back today to apologise for forgetting to pay, and to settle the bill in full. 

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Employers can’t deduct from wages unless required by law, eg PAYE and NI, or it is specifically mentioned in the contract of employment. If it’s ‘policy’ it has to be a specific term in the employee’s contract. Looks like an attempt at sharp practice to me.

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Denshaw is right you dont have to pay the discretionary charge as it is what it says.We never did it and thought it a bit cheeky. Our bills had a total and grand total. Customers used to ask for the bill and when  completed would ask for another bottle or whatever so we started to fill in just the total and the customer if they so wished would add gratuity. I think its a bad sign of a restaurant to make customers pay for service. I always thought it was like asking for a tip. Also you pay for the food and for the pleasure of it being served to you.In UK its quite normal to tip but its not here and my husband always tips and he gets surprised looks everytime. Neither my son or daughter have service charge or cover charge which I strongly diagree with.

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52 minutes ago, Rob.L said:

Talking of people doing a runner rather than paying...

 

My daughter was coming to the end of her 12-hour shift at one of the more “upmarket” restaurants in town last night when a table of four left without paying their bill of about £180. She was told that it was policy that as she was looking after their table, she’d have to cover their £60 drinks bill out of her earnings. 

 

Luckily for her, they came back today to apologise for forgetting to pay, and to settle the bill in full. 

It does happen . My daughters restaurant is opposite the now disused railway station. As the meals here are usually long and drawn out very often some customers will pop outside to have a smoke especially in the summer. It has happened that people think others have paid and will return the following day to apologise.

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It only happened to me once but the meal was so bad that after 2 mouthfuls I refused to eat any more and sent it back. I was offered an alternative meal which would have taken about 20 mins by which time others would have finished theirs so I refused it. When the bill arrived I refused to pay for 1 meal and had an argument with the owner.

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That’s the most likely explanation, nonnaB. And, yes, I think the management were trying it on.

 

As regards service charges and tips, a lot depends on company policy. I object to having a service charge imposed on the bill by default, but I’m quite happy to tip waiting staff 15 to 20% in cash if service is good.

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My ex worked behind the bar in the Savoy on Mansfield road. If the till was down the bar staff were expected to make up the difference from their wages. If the till was up they didn't get to keep the difference.

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The Employment Rights Act 1996 permits an employer to make deductions from a person's pay packet if such deductions are:

(1) authorised by legislation (such as income tax and national insurance deductions) or

(2) authorised in your employment contract or

(3) you have otherwise agreed to them in writing beforehand.

Therefore, in general, if you have not agreed to a deduction in writing, the employer cannot dock your pay!

However, there are special provisions relating to retail workers.

An employer may make a deduction from wages or demand payment from a worker on account of one or more cash shortages or stock deficiencies.

"Cash shortage" is defined as "a deficit arising in relation to amounts received in connection with retail transactions".

"Stock deficiency" is defined as "a stock deficiency arising in the course of retail transactions".

Therefore, if your till is short and you work as a shop assistant, your employer may make deductions from your wages.

That said, it is unlawful for an employer to deduct more than 10% from the gross wages of a retail worker on any one pay day.

Accordingly, where deductions can be made from a retail worker's wages to pay for shortages or stock deficiencies, the sums owed may be recovered in instalments but each instalment must be no more than 10% of the worker's gross wages on any one pay day.

However, the 10% limit does not apply to deductions from the final payment of wages.

With certain exceptions, a deduction of any size from the wages of a retail worker is unlawful if made more than 12 months after the cash shortage or stock deficiency to which it relates was (or ought reasonably to have been) established by the employer.

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  • 1 year later...

Making Tagliatelle  with 30 egg yolks, so what do you do with 30 egg whites? You make meringue of course.

 

 

 

3-A34557-C-EAB3-4-A84-B905-F20-CE5-F3-E3

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  • 3 weeks later...

We’ve just had an early supper at Rick Stein’s in Sandbanks.  We’ve been there a few times and it’s absolutely fantastic food and service in a great location, but you pay for it.    It was busy, bustling and special so they’re doing something right, unless people just want to dine there because of the name.  

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Back in 2018 TBI wrote:

 

Since the advent of nouvelle cuisine and celebrity chefs we've a cultivated a breed of pretentious foodies. I think a lot of it is just like the "Emperors New Clothes". At one time you used to go out to a decent restaurant and have a quality meal - preferably something which would be more elaborate than you would cook at home without all the faff that went with that. Now we've got 10 course "tasting menus". Can you really satisfy a hearty appetite with microscopic portions of God knows what on the plate? I used to eat out a lot, especially when I was in business. I was usually the customer so I was wined and dined in top restaurants both in the UK and Europe but this was "proper" well cooked food in adequate portions. I don't eat out much now as pub meals are reheated ready prepared stuff and the more upmarket places want to dish the food up on a roofing slate or a plank of wood. Tonight at home we have casserole of venison. Good, simple plain English food. I can smell it cooking now - must go and pour myself a glass of wine!

 

I'm very much with TBI on this. I enjoy eating out but try and stick to traditional fare. I'm no wine buff and think “The Emperors New Clothes” is certainly the case with some of the more expensive wines.

I detest garlic so have to be careful in Italian and Spanish restaurants. I wouldn't go in a French restaurant because they put garlic in everything. I like Indian and Mexican food even though garlic is used the hot spices seem to mask it. I could eat American food all day long. I hear there’s a Denny’s opened up in Swansea. It’s a long way to go but if you’re in the area it's great.

Back in the day I ate numerous steaks in The Grosvenor when it was a Berni In. I loved The Chateau too.

I ate in a Novelle Cuisine restaurant once and ordered a steak when the food arrived I looked on my plate and asked where the steak was. The waiter pointed and replied “under that mushroom sir” Just kidding.

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It all started to go wrong when presentation and arty-farty effects became more important than the food itself. In the pretentious places, the amount of food on the plate is inversely proportional to the amount of time spent turning the meal into a work of art.  Admittedly I don't want the meal just dolloped on the plate in front of me, but as long as it looks - and tastes - good I'll eat it.

 

Microscopic portions artistically arranged in the middle of the plate will never impress me.

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Mess's post above, which was attributed to me, was of course written by philmayfield.

 

I realised it was a mistake when I got down the bit ...

 

" I used to eat out a lot, especially when I was in business. I was usually the customer so I was wined and dined in top restaurants both in the UK and Europe" ...

 

now if it had said Little Chef I might not have realised..

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What gets me is when you see 'chef' dribbling bits of grass etc, always with their fingers, all over the plate or piling two french beans balanced on a carrot, topped of with another sprinkling of garden refuse. Another thing, why don't the hairy bikers wear hairnets on head and  chin. I would never eat owt they'd prepared." With a dash of oregano, mint, black pepper etc".

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We were once coming back from Scarborough and decided to stop for lunch at a Little Chef ,Southbound on the A1, just before the right hand turn onto A614. Wife and I had all day breakfast and our young son asked for fish fingers and chips. When it arrived, we tucked in and Andrew asked if it was a new way of serving fish fingers? Apart from the crumb cover, they were still frozen !

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12 hours ago, LizzieM said:

We’ve just had an early supper at Rick Stein’s in Sandbanks.

I don't usually watch cooking shows but I do like Rick Stein's programmes as they are as much a travelogue as a cooking show.

For those ex Aussies on here he has two places in Australia one at Port Stephens North of Sydney on the Central Coast and one at a beautiful beachside near Mollymook on the NSW South Coast. When we lived in NSW we spent many holidays at Mollymook in those days it was just a motel.

Hotel Bannisters by the Sea, Mollymook - trivago.com.au

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We were down in Padstow once and were amazed at the length of the queue at Rick's fish and chip take away. One couple we saw bought their chips and when they were away from the shop, they threw the chips in the bin ! They only wanted the paper that the chips were wrapped in, because it had his name printed on it. The couple very carefully folded the paper up and put it in their bag, then trundled off.

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